Spades, an American company working on massive afforestation, plans to invest $2.5 billion in Niger State and four others as a pilot scheme.
Governor Abubakar Sani Bello of Niger State who restated his commitment to sustaining relations with the New Partnership for Africa’s Development (AUDA-NEPAD) and other development partners to boost the production capacity of small holder farmers in the state disclosed this when he received the national coordinator and chief executive of AUDA-NEPAD, Princess Gloria Akobundu and the chief executive officers of Spades and 3D-AG at the Government House, Minna.
While Spades is an American company which works on massive afforestation and intends to invest $2.5 billion in Niger and four other states as a pilot scheme, 3D-AG on the other hand is a Canadian company which brings together requisite Information Technology (IT) firms to enhance the performance of small holder farmers.
Sani Bello acknowledged that the state has lost a lot of forest reserves due to illegal felling of trees, a situation he said is exposing the state to desert encroachment.
He decried the negative attitude of some people towards afforestation, stressing that there was the need for the Spades to provide ways to encourage tree planting among people so as to change the narrative.
The governor also advocated community participation and private sector approach with a view to achieving the desired objective of planting and nurturing trees.
He thereafter directed the commissioners of finance, investment, agriculture, environment and local government and chieftaincy affairs to meet with the Spades Company to discuss areas of interest and draw a road map on the process so as to ensure success of the project.
In a PowerPoint presentation, the chief executive officer (CEO) Spades, Dr Raymond Menard, described tree afforestation as a sure way to restore the lost glory of the soil hence the desire of the firm to invest $2.5 billion in five states of the federation including Niger State as a pilot project.
He said the project which would run for the next ten years would create job opportunities for thousands of people, saying that to fast track its implementation, the state government has already provided land and technical team as well as submitted all the requisite data for the takeoff of the project and assured that there would be incentives for tree planting and nurturing.
On his part, the CEO of 3D-AG Jeffrey Wexler, also in his PowerPoint presentation, said the company is a consortium of the most innovative Agro-Space in the world and that the firm works with the most renowned agricultural technology that can help smallholder farmers harvest larger and healthier farm produce.
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